CSGO is one of the most competitive Esports titles in the world. It has been around for quite some time and has gathered a player base that religiously follows the game.
Even after eight years of its initial launch, the game still attracts new players in 2020. It has a lot to offer whether you’re just a beginner or have already invested hundreds if not thousands of hours into the game.
However, the player base CSGO has is divided by skill levels. Not every player is the same, and it’s straightforward to rage quit this game if you run into someone way more skilled than you (or even worse, a hacker).
To combat this, CSGO has a ranking system that ranks players based on their performance in competitive matches and their skill level. In this article, we will talk about the CSGO ranking system and how you can climb the ladder quickly.
You can watch the video below in English and Hindi or continue reading the article.
Also read: How to change FOV in CSGO?
What are CSGO ranks?
Aforementioned, CSGO ranks are a way to tell your skill level in the game. The game uses these ranks to match you with other players on a similar level as you are.
Since its launch, the game has featured 18 ranks, which are as follows.
- Silver I
- Silver II
- Silver III
- Silver IV
- Silver Elite
- Silver Elite Master
- Gold Nova I
- Gold Nova II
- Gold Nova III
- Gold Nova Master
- Master Guardian I
- Master Guardian II
- Master Guardian Elite
- Distinguished Master Guardian
- Legendary Eagle
- Legendary Eagle Master
- Supreme Master First Class
- Global Elite
Most new players to the game fall between the SIlver III and Gold Nova II rankings. Your rank bracket can tell a lot about your gameplay and where you need to improve.
Silver 1 – Silver Elite Master
A lot of players are stuck in these brackets. If you find yourself in the dreaded silver ranks, you’re either completely new to the game, are smurfing, or are hacking.
To put it mildly, getting out of silver can be a bit of an annoying task. You’ll keep running into hackers, thanks to the game’s adaptation of the free-to-play model now. There are also many smurfs — players who are ranked higher (usual pros) but make a new account to play in lower ranks — playing in the silver ranks.
The grind can be very real if you’re new to the game. Apart from the troubles mentioned above, your teammates will also make your blood pressure rise.
This is where you learn the basics of the game and prepare the base for the other ranks to come. So take a breather, and work on your aim and movement. Only that will get you out of silver.
Gold Nova I to Master Guardian II
Things get a little bit easier here. Since players in the higher ranks often take their games much more seriously, you’ll find better teammates and higher quality matches overall.
You need to pick up your aim, learn to use utility properly, and start developing your game sense. A lot of the latter will come with experience, but you’ll be surprised to know just how much information the radar and the map can give you if you keep a sharp eye.
You’ll still run into hackers and smurfs here, but those will quickly diminish as you progress up this rank bracket. By the time you’re reaching MGE, you’ll be having pretty serious (and fun) games.
Master Guardian Elite to Legendary Eagle Master
This is where things get super competitive. Players in this rank segment generally have about 2000-3000 in-game hours racked up and are highly skilled individuals. They know their nade line-ups, have their position, movement, and crosshair placement dialled down and have pretty good game sense.
This is the cream of the crop in terms of CSGO players. You’ll find super experienced players with inventories worth thousands who’ll take each round as their last.
Supreme Master First Class and Global Elite
Welcome to the top 3.39% of the currently active CSGO players. SMFC and GE account for 2.61% and 0.78% of all CSGO players, respectively, at writing.
Players in these ranks compete in FACEIT or EASA and are considered professional esports athletes at this point or at least nearly there.
Also read: How to get Overwatch in CSGO? Everything you need to know
How does CSGO ranking work?
To be honest, no one knows how. Valve is very secretive about its ranking system, and rightfully so. If players figure out how the system works, they’ll be playing to rank up and not have fun. If a game isn’t fun, why bother playing?
The best bet we have at an insight into the ranking system is from a Valve employee who goes by the Reddit username vitaliy_valve. The employee stated that CSGO uses a ranking system based on the Glicko-2 model on a Reddit thread.
To know more about how CSGO ranking works, check out this article
Also read: How to sell your CSGO skins on the Steam Marketplace?
How to rank up in CSGO?
We’re already covered this extensively in an article before, which you can check out here. However, to summarise, keep vying to get better than you are today — the more practice you put in, the better you get. That’s all you need to do.
You can rank up even after losing a match, I have. Yes, your rank depends on many factors apart from your gameplay, but if you get your basics right, have good crosshair placement, know your nades and spray patterns, you’ll find yourself almost always lined up according to your skill level.
Also, to be clear, there’s no way to rank up fast in CSGO. You’ll have to go through the grind, learn the game inside out and break a few keyboards (few, if you’re lucky).
Apart from ranks, there are also levels in CSGO. Now while they don’t tell how skilled you are at the game, they do give a reasonable estimate of the time you’ve spent playing.
To learn more about CCSGO ranks and medals, check out this article.Â
Also read: How to build a Map in CSGO?
